F.P. writers make pretty good video
By Fresh Produce
SIOUX FALLS, SD—May 18, 2018—Three Fresh Produce writers recently made a decent short video without any assistance from post-production experts. The promotional video will be played before sessions during the third annual Sioux Empire Film Festival, of which Fresh Produce is a sponsor.
“It can’t be that hard, right?”
“Normally, we’d ask our vendor partners to help us shoot and edit something like this,” said Fresh Produce writer Brian Bieber, who edited the video. “But by the time we remembered that we had to make this thing, everyone was busy. So Angela and Ted and I just decided, ‘What the hell, it can’t be that hard to produce a one-minute video from start to finish, right?’”
The writers encountered numerous problems throughout the process. While Fresh Produce writer and public relations specialist Angela Zonunpari is an accomplished videographer in her own right, the frantic pace of the shoot—which took place in the fifteen minutes immediately preceding last week’s Ipso Gallery opening—resulted in a number of potentially avoidable mechanical errors.
[newspaper-column]
“I did bump the camera once or twice,” admitted Bieber. “And when Angela was trying to fix a problem with the mic, I tried to do this thing I’ve seen Walter [Portz, of Studio Blu Photography] do, where you kind of mess with the focus of the lens while you’re shooting. It’s really cool when Walter does it, but it didn’t turn out the way I thought it would.” Bieber was quick to note that the footage still looks really nice, all things considered.
Zonunpari could not be reached for comment.
“Ultimately, the video was completed”
Difficulties continued into post-production. Bieber, who has “messed around” with non-linear editing software in the past, realized almost immediately that he was out of his depth.
“This stuff is tricky,” said Bieber. “A lot of these computer companies like to throw around works like ‘intuitive’ and ‘user-friendly,’ but I don’t know what kind of genius ‘users’ they think are going to be ‘intuiting’ this stuff.”
Ultimately, the video was completed in time to be included in the film festival’s sponsor reel, though not in time for any revisions to be made.
[newspaper-column]
“You don’t always have the luxury of being precious when it comes to these things,” said Bieber. “Not everything you do can be absolutely perfect every time.”
Asked for his opinion about the video, long-time Fresh Produce collaborator and post-production expert Greg Kiesow-Knudsen of Pixelbox Productions was quiet for a long time.
“Zonunpari could not be reached for comment”
“It was a good effort,” said Kiesow-Knudsen, finally. He then added, “And just so we’re perfectly clear: I had nothing to do with this one.”
The Sioux Empire Film Festival runs from May 18-May 19 at the Belbas Theater in the Washington Pavilion. Passes are still available at siouxempirefilmfestival.com.
